Odd ‘GrandFriends’ Day push to be more inclusive

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• By Avi Yemini

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A move to rename Grandparents Day to ‘GrandFriends’ Day has outraged school communities across NSW.

Grandparents said they could not understand why schools would suddenly exclude them.

A number of NSW schools - in Bradbury, Concord, Drummoyne, Gillieston, Heathcote East, Kiama, Neutral Bay and Newtown - have all jettisoned the term ‘Grandparents’ in order to be more inclusive.

Founder of the National Grandparent Movement, Ian Barnett, told Today it was a strange decision that made no sense.

"To actually change the name to make it grandfriends is quite an odd thing," Barnett said.

"Because the implication behind that is of course, if grandparents are now grandfriends it means the next logical step is that parents become 'friends'.

"It's strange to do it and I don't know the reasoning behind it either."

Schools have traditionally held Grandparents Day as a chance for children to celebrate their grandparents at a special morning tea or lunch.

"I can understand maybe they want to make it easier for others to come onboard, but even little ones who have lost their grandparents do have others in their life that take on the role of a grandparent," Barnett said.

"It's such a significant phrase and concept and it's disappointing to actually think that we can no longer use that and we're changing into something like grandfriends.

"They understand whether they are actually physically connected to the child or not, they love the fact they can be a grandparent and connect and live out that part of their life."

NSW Education Minister Sarah Mitchell said that the change, in at least one instance, was to allow members of a local retirement village to participate in the special day.